The second difficulty arises from the number of boys who want to learn English and who are never likely to have any use for it. They have an idea that it is so new and uncommon that any one who knows it is bound to get work at a good salary, and so they want to waste their time over it when they ought to be learning the subjects they will really need for their work. It takes some time and trouble to sort these boys out from those who are really likely to need English. The third difficulty is not peculiar to Persia, though it presents some peculiarities there. It is the problem of managing the boys. Boys in England, I am sorry to say, sometimes tell lies, but in Persia it would be more correct to say that they sometimes tell the truth. Then again the boys are of different ranks; some of them come with their servants, and a certain amount of tact has to be used to get them to accept the ordinary rules of discipline. But in a school where everybody comes to learn most of these difficulties can be overcome. Persian boys want knowing, like all boys, but when one tries to do one’s best for them one finds them thoroughly lovable and possessed of a large number of exceedingly good points. Lastly, the _Mullās_, or Muhammadan clergy, see in the schools the greatest danger to their religion, and they oppose them strongly. They know that such close contact with Christians must open the boys’ eyes to some extent to the contrast between Muhammadanism and Christianity, and they know Muhammadanism cannot stand such a comparison. Many Muhammadans, who believe that Muhammadanism is a true religion given to them by God through Muhammad, still see that Christianity is the better religion, and Muhammadans have told me that God had given us a better religion than He had given them. So the _Mullās_ try to persuade or frighten the fathers into not sending their boys to the Mission-school, they try to frighten the boys out of going, and they try to get the governors to close the schools. But it is God’s work, and He does not allow them to stop it for long. The boys themselves show the greatest interest in whatever they are told about the Bible, and naturally in one way or another Bible reading is always a prominent feature of every class of Mission-school. Sometimes there is a regular lesson on the Bible as one of the school subjects, but in other places there are no Bible lessons, but only prayers and Bible-reading, with very simple explanations. But however this may be, the gospel story of Christ Jesus, which is known by name to every Muhammadan, but by more than name to very, very few, is always of absorbing interest, and is not likely to be forgotten. CHAPTER XIII WORK “To the house of ‘Ali Akbar the pea-roaster,” I said to my servant. “There are two ‘Ali Akbars pea-roasters,” he replied, “one is alive, and one dead; which do you want?” It proved to be the widow who had sent for me, and we were soon great friends.